22Jul15

China-US website highlights Japanese war crimes

Activists from China and the United States co-launched a website on
Wednesday highlighting Japanese atrocities during World War II.

The site, www.10000cfj.org, is named "10,000 Cries for Justice" and features
letters received by rights activist Tong Zeng from Chinese victims of the
Japanese invasion from 1931 to 1945.

It is a joint project led by David T. Chai, former mayor of Holmdel, New Jersey,
Don M. Tow, head of the New Jersey Alliance for Preserving WWII History in
Asia and Tong, with the aim of preserving and publishing witness accounts of
Japanese military crimes in a digital form.

"The website is also aimed at urging the Japanese government to face up to
history, solve problems left over by history and promote friendship and peace
between China and Japan," said Tow.

Tong, who has long strived to help Chinese war victims get compensation from
the Japanese government, said he received nearly 10,000 letters from
Chinese victims in the 1990s, which "provided heart-wrenching accounts of the
atrocities they or their families suffered at the hands of the Japanese military".

The website has Chinese and English versions, with the Chinese website
currently publishing 4,000 letters and the English one translating and
publishing 1,000 letters.

The writers' address, the victims' names and the date and place of their
suffering are available on the website.

In a letter signed by Shi Shuhua, she wrote that she couldn't forget the shadow
of the war even half a century later. "Our whole family were forced to leave
hometown to flee from Japanese slaughter. Three of our family members died
and the rest survived after going through a lot of pains and difficulties," it read.

[Source: Xinhua, Beijing, 22Jul15]

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